What Sacramento-area chefs hate — and love — about the region’s customers
Find out which habits make chefs tick — and which will make you their favorite customer. Six of the Sacramento region's top chefs have shared their personal experiences with The Sacramento Bee about customer behavior. The top chefs, from a vegetarian proprietor in midtown to fine dining craftspeople in the suburbs, highlighted their least favorite customer behaviors: intoxicated customers who give themselves a pass to be more assertive and demanding. They also mentioned that good guests, who build relationships with staff and try unusual dishes, are appreciated across the board. The answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
Published : a month ago by Benjy Egel in Lifestyle
Have you ever snapped your fingers at a server, substituted multiple items on a dish or brought your own liquor to the table? If so, you might be one of the chef’s least favorite customers.
Six of the Sacramento region’s top chefs, from a vegetarian proprietor in midtown to fine dining craftspeople in the suburbs, recently sounded off to The Sacramento Bee about the customer behaviors that drive them batty.
Some people consider chefs artists, while many self-identify as simply “cooks” who happen to oversee operations. Regardless, many chefs craft their menus and (for those who double as owners) open their restaurants with a vision in mind, one that they don’t appreciate customers spitting on — figuratively or literally.
Fear not, though: chefs notice the good guests too, and it’s not all about 30% tips. Customers that build relationships with staff, try unusual dishes and put their trust in trained professionals are appreciated across the board.
Answers have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What are your least favorite customer behaviors?
Allyson Harvie, Notre Ferme (catering): The people that are really intoxicated are really annoying. They have no idea how to conduct themselves in public — it’s kind of like they just give themselves a pass to be however they want. Their sense of awareness just goes out the door, and they become more loud, more obnoxious, more demanding.
Then there’s the clients that just have no appreciation or understanding for what we do. We’ve worked our butts off, and we’re always going to get guests that are like, “yeah, we didn’t like that.” That’s okay, but then there’s a whole other level where it’s just not necessary.
Katerina Balagian, Seasons Kitchen & Bar (102 F St., Davis): One thing that is kind of difficult is when people walk in and they’re in a rush immediately, and they have less than 30 minutes or 45 minutes to eat, and then they don’t take our advice about the things that’ll be the fastest to actually get to the table.
I don’t think we know better than people, but I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and I know the kitchen really well. And if you’re telling me you have to be out of here in 30 minutes, I can tell you what we can do in that time so you’ll have a great time. And if you choose something else, then I can’t guarantee you’ll get out of here on time.
Quentin “Chef Q” Bennett, Q1227 Restaurant (1465 Eureka Road, Suite 100, Roseville): When a guest comes into a restaurant, I think they do have an obligation to respect the restaurant (and) respect the staff. That would probably be my No. 1 thing. We owe them respect, but they also owe us respect.
We only serve beer and wine. So for a customer to come into my facility with their own (hard) alcohol is disrespect, and I could get really get in serious trouble. We’ve had that done before, and we’ve had to ask the guests to leave because we don’t have the appropriate license to serve that.
Oliver Ridgeway, Camden Spit & Larder (555 Capitol Mall, Suite 100, Sacramento): Clicking fingers. Yeah, it can still happen. Sending food or drinks back when they are clearly good, just to flex at the table. So many restrictions that it’s hard to actually make something. If they won’t sit at the table assigned.
A lack of awareness when a server is greeting the table and explaining the specials, and then asking, “what are the specials?” Ordering food that they don’t like, because they did not read the menu’s ingredients. Walking in on a busy show night, and getting mad at us because we don’t have a table.
Ed Roehr, Magpie Cafe (1601 16th St., Sacramento): When people have allergies, that’s totally understandable and we can help those folks. But every once in a while, you get someone that wants to rebuild the menu. They want to have different things put together and it just always feels awkward. It never seems right. Once you put things together, it’s often like, “you know, I think we did that right (the first time).”
To be honest, I always feel like it’s a person who has some other weird hang-ups. Sometimes it’s just like, “you’re a grown-up. You don’t need to ask to not have parsley on your french fries. You don’t have to be afraid of that.”
Robb Venditti, Mother (2319 K St., Suite B, Sacramento): What drives me crazy the most is stuff that’s not actually food-related. Some will customers comment (to the chef) on part of the aesthetics of the restaurant, that it’s too bright or too loud or whatever, certain things that you don’t have control over.
Really, though, I’m open to whatever (comments people may have). I can’t be everywhere at once, and I can’t taste every dish that goes out. So it’s always good and constructive to hear, even if it’s a little nitpicky.
Q: What customer behaviors do you appreciate most?
Ridgeway: I really enjoy it when guests remember and use our employees’ names on return visits. It means they made an impact and we have built a relationship.
Guests that confidently come in to entertain and know that we know how they like things done, and let us pre-order appetizers and drinks for them in confidence. And seeing guests’ social media posts, tagging us and exclaiming their love for the experience they had.
Harvie: It’s got to be the reoccurring clients that you love, that come and see you all the time. You get to experience those special days with them, their celebrations. It’s as if you’re creating this really beautiful relationship.
I noticed this a lot when I was (the chef de cuisine) at The Kitchen. Guests would celebrate the birthdays of all the kids, and then mom and dad, and it’s like you become part of their family. There’s nothing more special than creating a special day for them and doing it through food. Most of us (chefs), our love language is food. That’s how we communicate. It’s how we articulate. It’s how we showed that we love and we care.
Bennett: Every chef is telling a story with their food, and for a customer to understand that or at least try to follow along, that would be great. That would be probably the best customer support.
When we open our doors and we actually have guests that come in, sit down and experience our cuisine, our service (and) our culture, that makes me happy. And I’m hoping that every one of them takes a little piece of our culture and what we’re about with them, because there’s more than food for me and for us here at Q1227.
Balagian: One of my favorite things to witness is when people are having a good time with the menu, even if they’re not familiar with some of the dishes. We have one (dish) where we don’t tell you what it is and you order it blindly, and I just love seeing people have fun with their dining experience and have a great rapport with the service staff.
One thing that honestly — I wouldn’t say it quite brings me to tears, but sometimes it does — when people tell me they usually don’t like a vegetable or meat, but they say “I tried it here, and it’s amazing.” It’s just a joy.
Roehr: I like when people order the special. I like when people order the quail. I love the quail that we have here (from Wolfe Ranch Quail in Vacaville) and it makes me happy when people connect with it.
It makes me happy when people drink wine. It doesn’t have to be — you know, the house wine (a custom-blended chenin blanc from Haarmeyer Wine Cellars in West Sacramento) is good. It feels great when people can have something good happen and you don’t have to charge them a lot of money for it.
I always feel good when people are just sitting outside and enjoying space. When you have families sitting around and having a bottle of wine and some french fries for an hour-and-a-half, and you can tell they’re having a good time in your space, that is really where it makes me happy and I feel like we’re a part of their community.
Venditti: I’ve always been a really big fan of once the food goes out, it’s quiet and everyone’s eating. Coming from a catering background (Venditti previously owned and ran Rossi Catering) and doing big family meals (as the former executive chef at Mulvaney’s B&L), it’s often a big, loud room. And then the food is dropped, and noise is reduced by 70-80%. That’s always good.
And then I also like to see someone occasionally bussing tables, clearing plates. I mean, that’s pretty standard (for chefs to appreciate).
Topics: Food & Drink